Battle of Changsha (192)

The Battle of Changsha was a major battle fought between the armies of Sun Jian and Cai Mao in Jing Province in 192 AD. Sun Jian's numerically-inferior and battered army was surprised by Cai Mao's army as it replenished its numbers in the countryside outside of Jiangling, but Sun Jian's army was able to destroy Cai Mao's force in a great victory.

Background
In 190 AD, during the war against Dong Zhuo, the coalition warlord Sun Jian marched into the burning imperial capital of Luoyang and found the Imperial Seal hidden in a well. Aware of the power of possessing the Imperial Seal, Sun Jian kept it for himself, and he twice lied to coalition leader Yuan Shao about possessing it; Yuan Shao still did not believe him, and, as Sun Jian and his army marched home through Jing Province, Yuan Shao convinced the local warlord Liu Biao to confront Sun Jian. Sun Jian again refused to hand over the Imperial Seal, this time to Liu Biao, causing a war between the two powerful Jing warlords; Sun Jian was based out of Jiangling, while Liu Biao was based from the provincial capital of Xiangyang.

While Sun Jian battled against Han forces loyal to Dong Zhuo, Liu Biao took care to assemble a massive army and fleet and sailed down the Yangtze in 192 AD, landing near Jiangling. Sun Jian was aware of the size of Liu Biao's force and decided to abandon the capital, instead marching inland with his army, which was still recovering from a battle against a massive fleet of White Wave Bandits loyal to the Han. His army marched to the border with Cai Mao's fief; Cai Mao and Huang Zu were both vassals of Liu Biao with small landholdings, and Sun Jian resolved to defeat them in battle and conquer their lands as well. Sun Jian did not anticipate that Cai Mao would march out to engage him in battle, and Cai Mao and his generals Cai He and Zhang Yun ultimately led an army of 633 soldiers out to attack Sun Jian's 635-strong army not far from Changsha.

Battle
Sun Jian and Zhou Tai commanded forces of vastly-different sizes; Sun Jian commanded a half-strength full unit, while Zhou Tai commanded a reduced-strength two-thirds of a unit. While Zhou Tai's force was hardly battle-worthy, Sun Jian decided to use this to his advantage. As battle was joined in a forest, Sun Jian placed Zhou Tai's unit in a clearing while his larger force lay concealed among the trees. Therefore, when Cai Mao ordered his army to advance, the only enemy force in sight was Zhou Tai's weak formation of 14 horsemen and 50 swordsmen. Cai Mao grew cocky and ordered a full-scale attack on Zhou Tai's men, but Zhou Tai and his forces fell back into the woods to force Cai Mao to give chase. As Cai Mao's army passed them by, Sun Jian ordered his larger formation to emerge from the trees and ambush Cai Mao's rearguard. Cai Mao was the first to fall, cut down by Zhou Tai as he tried to flee the battlefield. Not long after, Sun Jian's forces proceeded to hack their way through the confused and frightened Cai Mao soldiers, and both Zhang Yun and Cai He were also wounded. Sun Jian then sent Zhou Tai's small cavalry forces to pursue their fleeing foes, while Sun Jian and Zhou Tai themselves took part in the pursuit and slew many of Cai Mao's routing troops. Cai Mao's army was obliterated, and Cai He led the few remnants of the army back to the Jiangling livestock farm where they were based from.

Aftermath
The battle of Changsha was a great victory for Sun Jian over Cai Mao's forces, effectively destroying Cai Mao's faction as a fighting force. However, Sun Jian's absence allowed for Liu Biao's massive army to capture Jiangling without much resistance. Shortly after, Huang Zu rebelled against Liu Biao, disheartened by Liu Biao's failure to protect Cai Mao from harm. Huang Zu's rebellion and Yuan Shu's war with Liu Biao did little to distract the powerful warlord from his quest to destroy Sun Jian, leading to several further large-scale battles.